


Midnight Rocker

by sourcheeks



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: 1990s, Band Fic, Homophobic Language, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Spooning, Trans Male Character, used in a reclaimitory way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2020-07-31 18:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20119855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourcheeks/pseuds/sourcheeks
Summary: Sneaking out still terrifies Hunter, but he has to admit, Shawn makes it worth it.





	1. Chapter 1

“This place seems kinda seedy.”

Chyna rolled her eyes, and Hunter blushed, feeling like a dumb sheltered kid again. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let anyone fuck with you,” she promised. 

Hunter pouted at her but didn’t protest further, letting the doorman mark thick X’s on the backs of his hands after checking his ID. Chyna bought him a Coke, and Hunter tried to look casual, leaning against the bar. He still hovered nervously next to Chyna, feeling anxiety spike through him whenever she moved away slightly. The band she had snuck him out to see finally came out, and Hunter let the singer’s bare arms and crop top distract him from his nerves. “You know these guys?” he whispered, nudging her. Chyna nodded. 

“From the gym,” she explained. 

Hunter had guessed anyone who worked out with Chyna would be a lot bigger, but she could probably bench either of the dudes onstage. They were cute, though. 

The blonde guitarist leaned into the microphone, flashing a megawatt grin at the people in the club. “Hey there, sexy! My name is Shawn Michaels, this right here is my partner Marty, and we hope everyone is having a fantastic fucking evening!”

There was a pretty tepid response from the dozen or so people at the club. Hunter clapped politely. The guitarist, Shawn, winked at him and blew him a kiss. 

They weren’t bad musicians, but almost anything was enough to impress Hunter after a lifetime of classical music and NPR. Shawn did an uncomfortable amount of moaning, though. Hunter looked away any time Shawn caught his eye, wishing there were more people there. 

The Midnight Rockers disappeared for a few minutes after their set - Hunter didn’t really know all the ins and outs of being a musician but he guessed they were packing away their equipment, because they were both empty-handed when they approached him and Chyna post-show. 

“Hey, you did come!” Shawn greeted Chyna with a big hug. “Who’s your little friend, Chy?”

“Boys, meet Hunter.” Chyna clapped him on the shoulder. 

Hunter waved shyly, smiling. “Hi. You two were really good.”

“Thanks, Hunter.” Marty clicked his tongue on the ‘t’ in Hunter’s name, nudging Shawn, and Hunter felt like the butt of some inside joke. 

“Let me buy us a round.” Shawn leaned on the bar, flagging down the bartender.

“Hunter is straight-edge,” Chyna said. 

Hunter scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I can speak for myself, Chyna.” He turned back to the other boys. “Um, I am straight-edge, though,” he repeated lamely. “And underage. For drinking. Not other stuff.” He was tanking. 

Shawn just smiled, patting his arm. “Hey, no problem, kid, I’ll just get you a soda or something.”

Hunter wasn’t normally allowed to drink soda and it made his mouth feel fuzzy and weird, but he accepted the second coke politely anyways. 

“This is cute.” Shawn grabbed the ribbon holding Hunter’s hair back, twirling it around one finger. “You’re pretty adorable, for such a prep.”

Hunter shrugged, looking down at his clothes. Was he a prep? He probably dressed like one. He wasn’t sure what the difference was. “Oh, uh, thanks. I think.”

“He’s cooler than he looks.” Chyna laughed. “His parents are just, like, crazy uptight about how he dresses.”

“I’m not even allowed to wear jeans.” Hunter rolled his eyes. 

“That’s fucked up.” Marty made a face. “You’re an adult. Wait. You are, right?”

“Nineteen.” Hunter nodded quickly. “Almost 20.”

“Well, happy early birthday, Hunter.” Shawn grinned, tossing an arm around his shoulders easily. “What in the hell are you still doing living with your family?”

“Well, as long as I stay at home, they pay for me to go to college,” Hunter explained, feeling hopelessly lame. 

Marty just nodded, making a face. “Makes sense. Fucked up.” 

“Yeah. It’s fucked up.” Hunter let himself relax. These guys obviously weren’t set out to humiliate him, no matter what he thought. 

Chyna grabbed his arm after a couple hours. “I should be getting this guy home.”

“Yeah, alright. Wait.” Shawn grabbed Hunter’s hand, scribbling a number on his palm magic marker. “Call me sometime, hot stuff.” He winked. 

“Y-yeah, for sure.” Hunter blushed, letting Chyna drag him back out to her car.

At home he climbed in his window as quietly as possible, carefully taking down the phone number Shawn had written on his hand. He scrubbed his hands red and raw in the shower the next morning, covering what little marker stubbornly remained with concealer and hoping his parents didn’t notice when he came down for breakfast. 


	2. Chapter 2

“You look exhausted, dear.” Hunter’s mother frowned at him, and Hunter wished he had thought to use the concealer beneath his eyes, too. Idiot. 

“I’m fine, Mother.” Hunter smiled politely. “Just a rough night. I couldn’t get to sleep no matter how hard I tried.” Not technically a lie. He had rolled around so much in his sleep he had fallen out of bed with his sheets tangled around his legs when his alarm finally went off. 

“Well, I hope it won’t stop you from doing what you need to do,” Hunter’s father huffed practically. 

Hunter bit the inside of his cheek hard to avoid rolling his eyes. “Of course not, Father.” He picked at his breakfast, excusing himself early. “One of my classes got moved up,” he lied, out the door before he could be questioned. 

Hunter found a pay phone on campus, putting in his money before dialing the number he had carefully tucked away in his shirt pocket. 

“Hello?” Shawn sounded groggy, but his voice was instantly recognizable.

“Oh - hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I kind of had to sneak out to call you. Uh, this is Hunter. Chyna’s friend.”

“Oh, yeah!” Hunter heard creaky bed springs and a voice distinctly lower than Shawn’s saying something he couldn’t make out, which made him blush. “Don’t worry about that, baby, it’s someone I met at a gig,” Shawn said, muffled away from the receiver. More clearly, he said to Hunter. “Glad to have you thinking of me. You seriously have to sneak out just to call people?”

“People my parents don’t know about, yeah. They would  _ murder _ me if they had any idea.” Hunter shuddered. 

“That blows,” Shawn empathized. “Diesel, I’m trying to talk to somebody, can you please put your damn prick away?”

Hunter had no idea who Diesel was. He tried to banish the mental image of Shawn naked from his mind. “Uh - sorry to - uh - interrupt you and your boyfriend,” Hunter stammered. 

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Shawn laughed. “Heartbreak Kid don’t do boyfriends.” 

The nickname was kind of lame, but the confident way Shawn said it made it a little cooler. “Sure. Sorry, um…”

“What’s the problem, rich boy, you never meet a fag before, all locked up in your ivory tower?” Shawn’s voice was light and teasing, but Hunter could hear a trace of fear under it. Or maybe he was projecting. 

“No! I mean. Yes. I’m, uh. I’m one. Of them.” He buried his face in his hands. Jesus. What was wrong with him?

“Well, welcome to the club.” Shawn laughed. “Hey, kid, I can think of a few clubs that are a hell of a lot more fun to sneak out to, if you’re into all that.”

“For real?” Hunter laughed, twirling the cord around his finger. “I would love that. We can’t meet at my place, though.”

“No problem.” Shawn rattled off his address and Hunter made him repeat it three times, to ensure that what he had written down was right. 

Hunter was distracted in his classes. He took down some notes out of habit, but barely paid attention to what he was writing. The folded paper with Shawn’s number and address were burning a hole in his pocket. 

He did some mental math when his last lecture was dismissed. It wasn’t unusual for him to stay in the library after lectures and do coursework, or go to the gym. There was no reason he couldn’t bluff and say he had just been busy either of those places. That was really just a pretense, though. He knew that when he got into his car, that he had to go to Shawn’s. Which was a cheesy rom com thing to say, and think, and do, but here he was anyways. 

He had never been in the part of town where Shawn’s apartment was. It was run down and broken up, and Hunter felt like an intruder in his polo shirt and slacks. He made his way up to Shawn’s door anyways, knocking hesitantly. 

The door flew open, Shawn standing in the doorway, shirtless, with a beer in hand. “Hunter! Come in, little man.” He tossed an arm around Hunter, leading him inside. “Hunter, meet Diesel and Razor. Guys, this is Hunter, he’s Chyna’s friend.”

Shawn’s friends, Diesel and Razor - which had to be nicknames - looked suspicious and disdainful until Shawn mentioned Chyna. Hunter vaguely remembered Diesel as the guy who had been in bed with Shawn that morning and tried not to let his eyes wander. “Um, hey.”

“Didn’t know Chyna was friends with an L.L. Bean model,” Razor teased. Hunter plucked at his slacks self consciously.

“Um…”

“His parents are total dictators, is what Chyna told me.” Shawn flopped down on the couch, gesturing for Hunter to join him. Hunter sat beside him, laughing with surprise when Shawn tossed an arm around his shoulders. “Seriously. You can’t dress like that if we’re taking you out tonight. Y’all think my clothes would fit him?”

Diesel gave Hunter an appraising look. “Might be a little tight.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with showing off a little, right. Especially when you got a body like that, damn!” Shawn yanked up Hunter’s shirt, poking his abs. 

Hunter laughed, squirming and tugging his shirt down. “Uh, thanks. Are we going out tonight?”

“You don’t have to, but we are.” Shawn downed his beer, tossing the can on the table. “You ever been to a gay bar, Hunter? Bet you haven’t.”

“Um, no. I’m only 19,” Hunter reminded him. 

“Right, yeah, yeah.” Shawn wasn’t paying attention to him, rifling through a small box he had pulled from under the table. “You got an ID, kiddo?”

“Yeah, I do.” Hunter scrabbled for his wallet, giving Shawn his ID. 

Shawn took what looked like a hand rolled cigarette out of the box, giving his ID a look and laughing out loud. “Oh my god. You’re fucking with me.”

“What?”

“Your name is  _ so _ not  _ Hunter Hearst Helmsley.” _

Razor and Diesel laughed too, and Hunter felt the color rising to his cheeks. “You can just call me Hunter. What do you need my ID for anyways?”

“Gotta make sure you’re really 19. Club we’re going to doesn’t check ID at the door, so they could get in real trouble if you’re a kid.” Shawn lit the cigarette, taking a deep drag before passing it to Razor. “And I’m a lot of things, but I ain’t a liar.”

“You’re definitely a liar,” Razor snorted, inhaling deeply. 

Shawn glared at him. “And furthermore, I don’t go for jailbait.” He tossed Hunter his ID back. 

“Why don’t they check?” Hunter asked, ignoring the strange smell of the cigarette the other three were passing around, choosing to still believe it was tobacco. 

“Some of the guys and girls don’t have documentation that matches up with their situation,” Diesel said. “Like Razor here.” 

Hunter nodded like he understood. “Yeah, totally.” 

“Hey, fuck you, I got my paperwork all done out and everything.” Razor laughed at Hunter. “He has no clue what we’re talking about. Do you, Triples?”

“Again, Hunter is fine,” he mumbled. 

“I like Triples,” Shawn mused. “Triple H. Sounds cool.” 

“Cooler than Hunter,” Diesel agreed. 

“Hunter is an eight year old boy name.” Razor nodded. 

“It is not,” Hunter whined. 

Shawn snorted, finishing off the cigarette and taking his hand. “Come on. We’re gonna find you something cool to wear.”

Shawn’s room was messy, bed unmade and laundry on the floor. It gave Hunter anxiety. If his room looked like this, well - it had been over a decade since he’d let his room look like this, well learning his lesson in his youth. “Your, uh, friends are cool.”

“I guess they are.” Shawn opened his closet door. “Strip.” Hunter was paralyzed by the command, hands faltering at his belt buckle. Shawn sighed when he straightened up and saw Hunter still fully clothed. “You deaf or something? I said, strip.” He unbuckled Hunter’s belt himself, yanking his slacks down. “Shirt, too.” Hunter took his shirt off quickly, standing awkwardly in his socks and briefs. Shawn thrust some clothes at him. “Try these.”

Hunter pulled on the clothes Shawn had given him - blue jeans with tears in the knees and a sleeveless black shirt. He glanced at the full length mirror on Shawn’s closet door. “Huh. I… actually look kind of cool.” 

“I mean, comparatively. You’re on your way.” Shawn shoved him down in front of the vanity, tugging the ribbon out of his hair. “Cute as this is, it sort of clashes with what you’re trying to sell, here.” He picked up a product that Hunter didn’t recognize, but smelled good when Shawn worked through his hair, making it fluff up. “Eyeliner might be a little too much on you. You have masc vibes, anyways.” Shawn gave Hunter’s reflection a long look. “You’re real handsome, Trips, anyone but your mother ever tell ya?”

“Uh, not really.” Hunter shrugged. 

“Speaking of, you need to call your folks? Tell them you’re having a sleepover or something?”

“Uh, probably.” Shawn had an extension in his room, and he tossed Hunter the receiver, dialing the numbers Hunter told him.

“Helmsley residence, Harry speaking.”

“Hello, Father.” Hunter shot Shawn a glare when he started giggling. “I’m just calling to say, I’m going to Chyna’s house. I’ll be back tomorrow after classes.”

Hunter’s father made a noise over the phone, but didn’t protest. “Very well. You two stay inside.” He hung up before Hunter could even say goodbye.

“Hello, Father,” Shawn wheedled, mimicking Hunter’s accent. Hunter shot a hairband at him. 

“Shut up. Do you have any shoes I can borrow?”


	3. Chapter 3

Razor and Diesel wolf whistled when Shawn dragged Hunter back out. “Damn, you look half decent.” Razor laughed. 

“Thanks.” Hunter laughed. “It was really all Shawn.”

“I mean, those arms don’t hurt.” Shawn gave Hunter’s biceps a squeeze. “You look hot, man.”

“Stop drooling over him before he faints.” Diesel rolled his eyes.

“I’m not gonna faint.” Hunter rolled his eyes and sat down. He tried to mimic Razor’s effortlessly cool pose, sitting leaned back with his knees apart. 

“Sure.” Shawn snorted, checking his watch. “We can leave here in an hour or so. I’m pre-gaming.” He went into the kitchen. “Raze, you want a beer?”

Diesel sighed. “So I guess I’m driving, huh?”

“I could drive,” Hunter offered, wanting to be helpful. 

“I thought rich boys got driven everywhere.” Shawn flopped across Diesel and Razor’s laps, passing Razor a beer. 

“I know how to drive,” Hunter huffed, embarrassed. “Jeez, I’m not totally useless.”

“It’d be nice not having to cart these assholes around.” Diesel patted Shawn’s hair and Shawn grinned, turning his head to kiss Diesel’s palm. Hunter blushed and turned away from the show of affection. 

“He’s repressed like a rich boy.” Razor laughed. 

“I’m not repressed," Hunter defended much too quickly.

Shawn laughed at him. “You are. That’s fine. We’ll straighten that out real fast.” He squeezed Hunter’s thigh. 

“Sure.” Hunter forced a smile. His parents were going to crucify him if they learned where he was. 

Shawn was no help with directions, but that didn't stop him from yelling from the backseat while Diesel told Hunter what turns he actually needed to make to get to a small bar with a neon sign reading  _ Climax _ . 

"Have you ever seen a drag show before, Triple H?" Razor leaned forward. 

"Like racing?"

The other three laughed, and Hunter knew he had said something stupid. "Not like racing. You'll see," Shawn told him, grinning. 

The club was packed. Hunter didn't know this many gay people lived in the entire county. They got separated from Razor and Diesel almost immediately, and Hunter caught sight of them dancing together. It was cute. 

Shawn kept a tight grip on Hunter's hand as they weaved through the crowd to the bar. "Austin!" he yelled, getting the bartender's attention. 

"Hey Michaels," the other man greeted him. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Triple H." Shawn's accent seemed to get a little thicker to match the bartender's. It was endearing. "Trips, this is Steve Austin, old friend from Texas."

"You, uh, you can call me Hunter." He smiled. Shawn continued like he hadn't said anything. 

"Something soft for the kid, he ain't a drinker. Just brought him in to see the show."

"It's Goldust tonight." Steve gave him a soda and Hunter drank it even though he had gotten a stomach ache from drinking soda the night before. 

"You're in for a treat." Shawn flashed Hunter a positively lewd smile. 

Hunter still didn't know what a drag show was. He was impressed, however, by the woman who came on stage. She was tall and broad and she walked with purpose to the center of the stage, long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and her face made up with intricate gold and black to match her dress. 

"She's  _ gorgeous _ ," Hunter told Shawn, openly staring. 

" _ He's _ gorgeous," Shawn corrected with a chuckle. "Got a little crush, Helmsley?"

"No! Shut up!" Hunter made a face. "He does look really good though."

"I'll tell him you said so. He'll like that." Shawn grinned, downing something colorful and fruity smelling. "Do you wanna dance?"

"I don't know how to dance." 

"Who cares?" Shawn grabbed his hand. "Come on. You need to unwind."

Hunter let Shawn drag him into the mass of dancers, awkwardly placing his hands on Shawn's shoulders like it was a middle school dance. Shawn wrapped his arms around Hunter's waist and pulled their bodies flush. 

"You've really never been to a gay bar?" Shawn called over the music. 

Hunter bit his lip. "No, I mean, you're the first person I ever even, you know - told." He'd never even spoken to Chyna about it, though he felt that she knew. 

"Well, I'm honored." Shawn tucked his face into Hunter's neck. Hunter wondered if Shawn could hear his rapid pulse. "You're real handsome, you know that?" Shawn's hands dipped down to squeeze Hunter's ass. 

Oh God. This was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine. Hunter tried to pretend having hot dudes grab him was completely normal, not wanting to embarrass himself. "Can - um, could I - would it be okay if I kissed you?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Shawn lifted his head and he leaned up, kissing Hunter. His mouth was warm and tasted the way alcohol smelled. Hunter leaned into the kiss, hoping his lack of experience wasn't obvious.

"You're a pretty good kisser for a virgin," Shawn teased, hooking his fingers into Hunter's belt loops. 

"You don't know that I'm a virgin!" Hunter made a face at him. 

"Yes I do." Shawn laughed, kissing at his jaw and neck now. Hunter shivered, biting his lip. Fuck. 

Shawn was touching him, hands slipping under Hunter's t-shirt. Hunter didn't want him to stop but he also didn't know what to do, hands hovering awkwardly at Shawn's waist. Hesitantly, he slid his hands lower, squeezing Shawn's ass. Shawn gave him an encouraging hum, teeth scraping over Hunter's neck. 

Shawn was a tease and Hunter was a wreck by the end of Goldust's performance. He had gotten distracted from making out a couple times by the beautiful drag queen, Shawn making fun of him each time. Hunter couldn't help it. This whole scenario was so alien and he wanted to experience as much of it as possible. 

"You wanna go say hi to your new girlfriend?" Shawn called over the music after the queen left the stage. Hunter gave him a look. 

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go."

Shawn seemed to know the security guards, getting by them with a flirtatious wink and leading Hunter to the dressing room. "Dust! Hey!"

"Shawn Michaels, I'm going to lock that door one day." Goldust didn't look up from where she was painstakingly cleaning her face. 

"No you won't. You love me." Shawn kissed her cheek, taking off her long blonde wig and placing it on a display head for her. "This is my friend Triple H."

"Triple H?" She arched a golden eyebrow, amused. 

"Uh, you can call me Hunter."

"Nice to meet you, Hunter, you can call me Dustin. Shawn, help me with my dress?"

"Don't know how you perform in this thing." Shawn unzipped the back of her black and gold dress. "Latex under lights… ugh."

"Don't listen to him, Hunter. He just likes being next to naked onstage." Dustin laughed. Hunter politely averted his eyes as she stepped out of her dress. 

"What's the matter, Trips, ain't ever seen a naked lady?" Shawn snickered. 

"No! I mean - none of your business. Whether I have or haven't it's impolite to watch somebody change."

"He's cute." Dustin chuckled. "Alright, kid, you can look." 

Hunter glanced back. Dustin was wearing jeans and removing a bra with what appeared to be foam breasts. He put a t-shirt over his newly flat chest. Hunter was impressed at how this plain looking man in front of him was also the beautiful woman who he had seen perform. 

"Trips here has never been to a gay bar before." Shawn grinned. "He's never done anything, his parents keep him locked up in an ivory tower basically."

"And you want me to do what about that, exactly?" Dustin asked in an exaggerated put upon tone, flashing that fond smile people seemed to have for Shawn. Hunter wished he got that reaction out of people. 

Shawn grinned, licking his lips. "Well, you have my address, of course-"

"Enough of that!" Dustin laughed and swatted him. "Not coming to your damn orgy."

"What's an orgy?" Hunter asked innocently.

Shawn and Dustin glanced between each other with obvious panic. Shawn started to stammer out an answer and Hunter burst out laughing, glad to have been the one to catch Shawn off guard for once. 

"I'm messing with you! God, I'm sheltered, not stupid."

Shawn cackled, tossing an arm around Hunter. "I knew I liked you!" 

Hunter, Shawn, and Dustin stayed in the dressing room for a while, talking. Hunter slept on Shawn's couch and scrubbed the product out of his hair and the sticky residue of sweat and alcohol from his skin. He was almost sad when he had to put his own clothes back on, getting a goodbye kiss from Shawn before he made his way back home. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hunter wasn’t able to sneak back out again any time soon. He had started spending a lot of time between classes in a phone booth on campus, talking to Shawn. He was worried it was annoying, but Shawn always sounded genuinely enthusiastic, unless Hunter caught him at an, uh. Inopportune moment. He’d once had a conversation with a very distracted Shawn for several minutes before realizing he had been in bed with somebody. He now made it a point to clarify Shawn was alone at the top of their phone calls. 

Hunter knew there would be workers in the house when he came home. His father had been complaining about the busted pipes all week. He wouldn’t have given the plumber a second glance if there wasn’t something familiar about him. 

“And this must be your son.” He smiled at Hunter, and Hunter’s eyes flicked down to his shirt. The name  _ Dustin _ was embroidered below a logo for Rhodes & Sons Plumbing. A boy who looked maybe high school aged fidgeted with a toolbox behind him. 

“Hunter,” he introduced himself like he’d never seen Dustin before in his life. “Um, hi.” Hunter’s father gave him a look, and Hunter quickly corrected himself. “I mean, hello, sirs.”

Wrong again, evidently. Hunter’s father scoffed. “You don’t have to call the help ‘sir,’ son.”

Hunter felt a flicker of indignation that he tried to tamp down. His dad was such a fucking dick. He opened his mouth to apologize, but couldn’t bring himself to. Later he would chalk it up to Shawn emboldening him. “That’s not very nice to say, you know. These two worked very hard to fix a problem for us, it wouldn’t kill you to show them some respect.”

As far as disgruntled rebellious outbursts went, it was very level headed and reasonable, Hunter thought. His father’s face, however, was twisted with rage. His voice was tight as he pressed an envelope into Dustin’s hand. “Please leave so I can handle my son,” he said tersely. 

The younger Rhodes gave Hunter a sympathetic look as they left. Hunter felt worse for him, though, having to work with his bastard father. 

Hunter’s father screamed for nearly half an hour. Hunter stood quietly and nodded at the appropriate points, knowing his input was not wanted. He retreated to his bedroom with a flimsy excuse about homework, curling up under his covers and crying. He felt small and stupid and useless. 

Once he had calmed down a little, Hunter looked at his clock. Still a couple of hours before he would be called down for dinner. Praying he wouldn’t be asked who he was talking to, Hunter picked up his extension and put in Shawn’s number. 

“Shawn Michaels speaking. Vin Man, if it’s you again I already told ya, no refunds.”

“H-hey, Shawn, it’s me.”

Shawn’s voice shifted immediately from jovial and teasing to concerned. “Kid, have you been crying?”

“I, uh, got in a fight with my dad.” Hunter sniffled, wiping his face. 

“Shit. Tell me about it, yeah?”

“He’s so horrible!” Hunter wanted to scream, but he kept his voice down. He hugged his pillow to his chest for comfort. “He just screamed at me for thirty minutes. All I did was say he should be nicer to the plumber.”

“Jesus Christ, what an asshole.”

“I’m not going to be sad when he dies,” Hunter admits quickly. He laughed anxiously. “What a horrible thing to say! It’s true though.”

“Well, sounds like your old man fucking sucks. One second.” Hunter heard the soft clunk of the receiver being put on a table and muted conversation before Shawn came back. “Come over again, yeah? Sneak out or something. You sound like you need a night off.”

“Yeah. I will.” Hunter swallowed thickly. “Um, just have to wait for my parents to go to sleep. Thanks Shawn.”

“Sure thing, buddy. Good luck.”

“Bye.” Hunter placed the receiver down and went to take a shower. Wouldn’t do for his parents to see he had been crying. 

Hunter was feeling bold. He got ready for bed as he normally would, then laid in bed waiting until he heard his father snoring. He left a note on his pillow saying he had to leave for school early because of a group project, getting dressed again and climbing out of his window. 

“Trips!” Shawn cheered when he opened the door, giving Hunter a hug. “You remember Marty and Diesel, and this is Undertaker.” 

Hunter had gotten used to the ridiculous nicknames Shawn gave to his friends, but this one was… fitting. ‘Undertaker’ was a big guy, towering over Hunter (who wasn’t too small himself) even slouched against the wall. His black tank top showed heavily tattooed arms and lanky black hair hung in his face. He was a scary looking guy. He grunted at Hunter and Hunter smiled at him, doing his best impression of someone who was not scared. 

“Hi. Uh, you can call me Hunter.”

“Mark.” 

“Cool.” 

“You look fucking awful in dress clothes, has anyone ever told you that?” Shawn yanked out Hunter’s tucked in polo shirt. 

“They’re, uh, all I have.” Hunter chuckled. 

Shawn sighed dramatically. “Fine. Come with me.”

Hunter felt much less out of place with Shawn’s friends a few minutes later in a borrowed t shirt and jeans, wedged on the couch between Mark and Shawn. “Where’s Razor?”

Marty laughed. “On a date with his new boyfriend.”

“Watch it.” Diesel gave Marty a look. “Waltman isn’t his boyfriend.”

“Diesel is jealous,” Shawn whispered loudly. 

“I’m not jealous! He can hang out with whoever he wants.”

“Why the fuck would anyone be jealous of Waltman?" Marty laughed. "Is he gonna annoy Razor into dating him?"

"I mean, you know why the ladies call him the 1-2-3 Kid." Shawn jerked his hips up. "1-2-3, uh!"

"You know first-hand." Mark gave him an amused look. Shawn grinned, lying a hand on his chest. 

"Sure do, big guy."

It was so strange, how freely Shawn spoke about sex. "Am I the only one here that hasn't slept with you?"

"That can change." Shawn winked at him. 

"I haven't slept with him either." Marty smiled at Hunter. "It's a very exclusive club."

"Marty is-" Shawn made a show of looking around and lowering his voice.  _ "Straight." _

"Man, you're not funny!" Marty snorted, elbowing him. The two of them got into a playful shove fight, Mark separating them physically. They made faces at each other behind Mark's back like bickering brothers. It was cute.

"You should let us take you shopping." Shawn was packing a cigarette roller with what Hunter presumed to be marijuana. "Get some real clothes. You can't be your parent's monkey all the time."

"Really? That would be great!"

"We'll take you tomorrow." Shawn licked the glue line of a rolling paper and fed it into the machine. "You wanna try this?"

"Uh- sure. I'll give it a shot." Hunter watched the way Shawn did it and copied his motions, taking a drag off the cigarette, inhaling fresh air, and passing it off. He held his breath until his eyes started watering, staring to cough. 

"Easy, bud." Shawn thumped Hunter on the back. 

"That feels really bad," Hunter wheezed. "I don't like that at all."

"Nah? You don't have to do it again." Shawn rubbed his back until his coughing fit died down, wrapping an arm around him. "Marty and Mark are taking the couches. You wanna crash in my room?" He winked at the other two. "Unless one of you two wants to trade him."

"Oh, far be it from us to interrupt you two lovebirds," Marty joked. 

"We're n-" Hunter was cut off by Shawn kissing him. It was a short kiss, and Hunter knew it was mostly for show, but he was blushing bright red when Shawn pulled away. 

"I'm fuckin tired," Shawn announced, standing. "Hunt, you coming with?"

"Yeah, let's go." Hunter stood quickly, heart thudding against his ribcage. 

Shawn, as usual, exhibited no shame about his body, stripping down to his boxers and climbing in bed. Hunter had to turn the lights out before undressing, getting in with Shawn. 

“Night, Trips.” Shawn snuggled up to him from behind, kissing the nape of his neck. 

“Goodnight,” Hunter managed. Shawn was asleep in minutes, and despite the initial strangeness, th comfort of another warm body in bed lulled Hunter to sleep too.


End file.
